UPDATE 1-Regulators had not approved most PIP implants-lawyer

The lawyer for the French company at the heart of an escalating global breast implant scare told Reuters on Tuesday that most of the prostheses sold by the firm since it began in 1991 were produced using a non-approved silicone.

Lawyer Yves Haddad, who represents now-shuttered Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) and its founder Jean-Claude Mas, said the company sold both so-called “simple" prostheses, made with non-approved silicone, and a high-end product using approved silicone that was aimed at wealthier clients.

“There is a product made by PIP which did not formally receive the (regulators’) approval and in this regard there was a violation of regulations," Haddad told Reuters in an interview in his office.

No charges have been filed in the case that could potentially affect 300,000 women around the world who purchased implants made by the firm.

An involuntary homicide investigation was opened this month after the 2010 death of a French woman from cancer who had PIP implants.

PIP, which began selling implants in 1991, was once the third-largest breast implant maker in the world. It went bankrupt and its doors shut in 2010 after an official inspection revealed that it was using industrial, non-approved silicone in some of its products.

“Why did this company use this kind of product? Because it was a corporation with economic objectives and because of corporate management that tried to get the best cost," he said.

The “house gel" version of the PIP implants was “just as effective but five times cheaper" as the high-end version, according to PIP, Haddad said, noting that the company, which employed 120 workers had “sales and results targets".

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“There was a basic product and a high-end product, for people in the 16th (arrondissement of Paris) for example," said Haddad, referring to a upmarket area of Paris.

The company never asked France’s medical device safety regulators to approve its house-made product, but expected it would have been, Haddad said.

The French government has advised that the 30,000 women in France who bought PIP’s implants have them removed. Authorities have said there is no link to cancer, but have cited higher rates of rupture than in other brands. Rupture can cause inflammation and irritation.